Whale Talk - The End

Well, dearest reader of mine, the unit is over. Officially, 100% over. Discussions were had, journals were written, reflections were done, and the projects have been handed in (and are in the process of being graded). Its bitter sweet. The end of the year is nearly here (that's sweet), but our journey is over (that's bitter).

Over vacation the kids had to complete an in-depth character analysis project, and to my delight they didn't even complain about it! They had stickies shooting out of their books the Friday before break, and when we returned only 1 student was without a project (he never does anything, so I wasn't surprised). I also had papers due in two other classes, so I haven't begun grading the WT projects, but I'm super excited to read them!!

Anyway, with everything else done, I felt like we (me in particular) needed to wrap things up. Just saying, "the end" did not feel right. So, we did three things on Tuesday in class:

1. Chalk Talk (The kids each get a marker, and have to go around to pieces of poster paper and write responses. They can respond to each other or to the question. There is no talking. It's nice because it gives them ALL equal opportunity to say their peace)
2. Discussion (of the chalk talk)
3. Unit Evaluation

Our chalk talk questions were:





When we were done, we had this:




I was really, really impressed with their responses. I was most impressed, with how appalled they were at the thought of a book being banned.

We had a discussion for nearly 25 minutes JUST about book banning. A few kids wondered whether some topics would be TOO inappropriate for students, but couldn't come up with what. We even looked up the Top 10 Most Banned Books, and none of us could get it. I was really, really proud. I resisted the urge to insert my opinion, but I didn't need to anyway. My students really, really understood that it's not ok to censor people. Ever.

We didn't spend a lot of time on what they would ask Chris Crutcher (the author), because most of them wanted to know what inspired the novel. Maybe, just maybe, I'll write on their behalf and find out. Who knows?

The last chalk talk was what the characters can teach us. Again - Blow. Away.


I wasn't just blown away by their chalk talk either. We were short on time, so instead of addressing the actual poster, I went around the room and had each student tell me what they learned. It would be easy for freshman to blow this off and say silly things. Not this group. They said things like: "Don't judge a book by it's cover" and "Everyone has a story".

Our last order of business (if you've been paying attention), was a unit evaluation. When I do something totally new, I like to see what the kids think. It's something I learned from the fabulous Mrs. Manhart. Here's the evaluation (only the front; the back had open-ended questions):



I was so excited to see that the majority of them thought that our opening activity was EPIC. I worked so hard on that, for so long and it paid off. They also really enjoyed their reading journals. Most of the time, I just had them write their reactions, but the comment that I got from many was that they liked being able to say what they think. The thing they hated was vocab, which I basically knew. It could have been better, but was the last worry. I was most impressed that about half of them thought the character analysis project was EPIC. They actually enjoyed the project!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They liked it, they said, because the felt like they got to know the characters. Kids engaging in a novel - I'm dying over here. Seriously.

And, even though I haven't graded them, here are a few project photos. The cover needed to be creative and reflect the character.

I could keep going forever and ever and ever. I truly could, but I won't. In the interest of time, and energy, I will end this post with a few thoughts.

On the unit: I just loved it.
On my students: I love them.
On you reading this: Thank you!

On Whale Talk: Wow.

Unattainable

I've spent the past several days wanting, and needing, to write a post that isn't related to school. I've been inside my own head, trying to figure some things out. And now, here I sit at 8:30 on Friday night trying to decide whether the things I discovered inside my head are things that I can articulate. With two nights of insomnia behind me, I've decided that even if I fail, this is worth a shot.

I wrote a post about a month ago about faith. I just reread that post, and I'm not in the same place right now. I still have faith in a lot of things, but I'm discovering that I have to work, sometimes hard, to keep faith. I'm not alone here, I know. I know that faith is something you have to work at, and that in working at it, you build faith. But, at what point is it supposed to pay off?

We - especially young women - are bombarded with images of fairy tale endings in life and love. How often does that really happen? I know, I know. You can't believe everything you see, read, or hear. BUT, I often feel like we set ourselves up to fail in faith. We have, at least I have, expectations that are really not realistic.

Maybe part of faith is figuring out that our expectations are unrealistic. Maybe, just maybe, faith is deciding that reaching for something you may not attain is better than not trying at all.

Whale Talk - Day 10

I'm on vacation, which explains why this post is coming nearly 4 days after the class it's about. What can I say? I'm almost as bad as the kids when it comes to procrastination - only I don't wait until the actual night before to get things done.

Friday before vacation was bitter sweet. It was so, so sweet because it's vacation, and after the endurance run from February to April it's needed. It was bitter because Whale Talk is essentially over. The reading is done, we've discussed the characters and plot, and all that's really left are the projects assigned on day 4. So, that's what we did on Friday.

I went over the project, again, and answered a lot of questions. We talked about expectations, and the kids looked at examples of the same kind of analysis project on William Golding's Lord of the Flies. I think they rather enjoyed looking at examples because one of them belongs to me. Yes, I still have most of the work I did for British literature in 11th grade. I'm that kid, but it's come in handy several times.

Once we were done reviewing project guidelines, I gave the kids time to work. They used it - mostly. I helped some find passages, helped some with structure, and I also packed my stuff so I could peace out ASAP.

I won't see my honors class again until April 27 - a week and a half from the last class we had. I have high expectations for these projects, and I hope I haven't given myself expectations that are too high. Some of the kids in my class will, without a doubt, do excellent work, while others will do just enough to get by.

I really wish I had had more time to spend on this novel. I'm really sad that it's over, and while I love Shakespeare, somehow Romeo and Juliet doesn't seem like much of a follow-up act to this novel.

Whale Talk - Day 9

Yesterday was the class I had anticipated since we started reading this book. The kids were finally done with the novel, and we could talk about everything ... the full circle of the plot, the ending, just all of the things that I've had to avoid since we started. It was great. The whole time we were talking, I kept thinking to myself, "I should have taped this. I don't want to forget anything." Then, I starting thinking, "Just be here. Right now. Listen, you'll remember what's important." So, I decided to wait to write this post. I wanted to let everything settle, so that I could cover the most important things. There's so much more I could write here, but I still have two class periods to go through and reflect with the students. Stay tuned to see the final, final moments.

_________________________________________

We started class with a 3ish minute think time for the students; I asked them to write down the words, and phrase that they thought of when they finished the novel. This is what we came up with:


Some of them were really dissatisfied with the end of the novel, but they also weren't entirely sure what had happened throughout the whole thing. So, we started at the beginning of the reading (chapter 14). It wasn't the most exciting chapter, but some great and very important things happened. One included Heidi (Rich Marshall's stepdaughter - biracial stepdaughter). She scrubbed her arm with a brillo pad. Until it was raw. The silence in my classroom when we talked about that was so loud. That topic didn't last long, because we moved on to discuss Heidi's mother, Alicia.

It was Alicia who brought Heidi around Rich. In the eyes of my ninth grade students she's just as bad, if not worse that Rich. She, according to them, is supposed to protect her kids no matter what. She shouldn't get the second chance given by the Jones family. One student blew me away, though. She brought up how hard it would be to just cut Rich out. That doing so could be just as bad for Heidi as having him around, because he's a dangerous guy. Still, though, they didn't think Alicia should be around her kids at all because she goes back to Rich over and over. Then, Ms. Davis jumped in ...

I watch enough SVU to know that taking a child away from everything she knows is just as bad as having one abusive parent. It's hard to explain that to kids, though. They can't wrap their heads easily around the idea that people who make mistakes don't always learn from them the first time. There are some who still don't like Alicia, and who think she needs to be locked away, but they considered her point of view, and that's what I wanted.


Some other conclusions drawn during our discussion of chapter 14:
- Chris Coughlin is a big deal - and he LOVES TJ Jones.
- Mr. Simet's speech at the winter sports banquet shows the very best things about all of the Mermen.
- Icko is the man.
- The Tao Jones showed us what The Tao is about.

Most of our discussion surrounded the climax of the novel (which I refuse to give away, although I'm dying to - go read the book, so that we can talk!). If I try to sit here and write about what we said, I'm inevitably going to give something away, so I'll tell you the following:

In reading the climax, a girl who "hated" this book cried, a class that talks constantly was dead silent, and we all heard a little whale talk in the advice "not one minute for revenge".

One more found poem ...

I got this late, but it's too good NOT to share.

A Found Poem inspired by Whale Talk
By J.O.
Superman
A symbol of the universe.
As pale as chicken gravy
and eyes as dull as automobile primer.
The stud that is as tall as I can stretch.
In a cloud of Dust
ready to take the bullet.

His cape.
A symbol of excellence
offers up whatever we need,
whenever we need it.
He's a Barbarian in my eyes.
But that's my judgement.
He goes about as far over your head
as you can go without escaping gravity.
He goes above and beyond.

In hear the voice.
The universe.
Superman.

Whale Talk found poems

For Weekend homework, I gave the kids the following handouts:

I love found poems, and wish that I had spent more class time explaining/demonstrating because the products would have been stellar. I got some great ones, despite my lack of time, and decided that I wanted to share a few. So, here you are:

By G.L.
He's the nicest mean-looking dad in the world.
Hop into my babe mobile and I'll buy you a milkshake.
He's pale as chicken gravy and his eyes are dull as automobile primer.
Kids flock around my dad like he was created by Walt Disney.
Children trying to climb a glacier.
That would require a considerable outlay of energy.
There is nothing more than sound of heavy breathing.
Everything is relative.
Aquatic helmets.
Barbour the barbarian.
But with element, it is a soul stealer.

By B.L. (male)
Love is ...
being ready to take a bullet
two pizzas for Simon
Spock in his Vulcan mind
it is the universe
and the children climbing glaciers

By B.L. (female)
I hear the voice
the voice
I will forever remember
she looks into my eyes
I was interested
three syllables
a symbol of excellence
of energy
it's a soul stealer
she
says
I
love
you.

By A.H.
Respect the soft water.
Bottom level aquatic, big deal.
Allows real outsiders.
Take advice Barbour the Barbarian.
Voice, Action, symbol of excellence.
A small group is far more
the universe says swim.
Focus, the sound of breathing.
Instincts, whatever I have to do.
Forever remember the fiercely competitive.
The rest is history.

By A.D. (and me)
Children,
both twelve, don't know
the sensation of ignorance.
They are luckier than they know.

Whale Talk - Day 8

Well, the two chapters I sent home over the weekend provided a little bit of a reprieve from all the intensity that we had read, and that they will read for Wednesday. These two chapters set us up with just a little more reinforcement that Mike and Rich are jerks, TJ is amazing, John is the epitome of a good man, and the other characters provide a rich background to support that. So, our discussion wasn't overly involved today.

Mostly, the kids talked about Andy Mott. We found out in Chapter 12 how he lost his leg, and let me tell you, it's about as tragic and disheartening as anything in this book. I don't want to give much away (because I'm hoping if you haven't already, you'll read this book), but Andy is a hard ass for a reason. The kids in my class were pretty shaken up by the whole thing. They also keep admitting that they don't totally believe that everything in here is plausible. Here are the reasons why they find this novel hard to believe sometimes (in their words):

1. Every character has a major life problem.
2. There is too much abuse in it.
3. The characters are too different to actually get along with each other so well.
4. People don't really open up and bond the way the Mermen have.

At the end of our discussion today, I addressed several of these "concerns" along with others. Here are my rebuttals, as well as a summation:

1. Jackie, Simet, Georgia, and even Simon don't have off-the-wall problems.
2. I didn't directly address this.
3. Sometimes people bring out the best in each other because they are so different.
4. I talked about this one in a previous class/post.

Summation: It's called fiction. In order to believe any work of fiction we have to suspend reality (I explained this further to them as being able to accept the far fetched). In this book, we don't even have to suspend reality that much. When we did our opening activity, the majority of the class said they wouldn't give Andy Mott the time of day. Is that still true? (They said no, FYI). Well, that's the point that Crutcher is making here. For instance, I could pull a slacker, jock, special education student, and loner aside in Old Town High School, and if I got to know them, I would learn something. That's what makes this believable - that we have to look beyond the surface level in order to really see people. We all make judgements - I know I do - and that's human nature, but we also have to be willing to take another look.

Then, because I admitted to being judgemental sometimes, they wanted to know what judgements I made when I first met them. I told them, but really, that should be dealt with in another entry altogether.

Some kids have finished the novel, and are dying to talk it out, because the end is rather shocking. You can see SOMETHING coming, but not what does, and boy-oh-boy, even I can't wait until Wednesday to see what they think.

Whale Talk - Day 7

I'm getting close to the end of this novel, and I'm getting a little sad. There's so much more I want to have done with it. So many more discussion, so many more writing topics, so much more. There just isn't time. There are 7 weeks of school left, and I need to get Romeo and Juliet in there, so we'll be finishing WT next week. Here's what happened in class today ...

I was super excited about the discussion today because in one of the chapters they read, this passage came up. It's my favorite passage of literature - probably ever. I always remember the essence of these words, and when I read them, I get chills. But, I digress.

I was excited (to restate). I lost about 30 minutes of class time to class registration for next year, so I was extra anxious to talk to the kids. I've discovered, though, that one of them really hates this book. It makes me sad that she does, but 14 others either tolerate, like, or love it. I can live with that. So, when guidance left, we jumped right into those two pages of text. I read them out loud - which I love doing - and when I was done we talked about what John meant.

At first, I got some blank stares, so I broke it down for them. Sitting upon the perch that is a student desk, I asked my students what was different about the way that whales communicate. The answers were astounding - like got me so excited I shook a little bit.

The kids GOT IT. They totally understood, and articulated, that when a whale feels something, they FEEL it. They share it in the most primal way, and all of the others whale hear that and feel it too. There is not censoring. Just raw, brutal emotion.

There's one student - we'll call him G. He's a goofball. He cracks jokes, never stops talking, and is one of those kids who doesn't take things seriously (he tried to milk himself in my class, and I'm serious here). He explained part of the passage better than the others saying, "When whales talk, everyone gets heard. Sometimes when we (humans) talk people aren't always heard. Like stars and newscasters are heard, but other people don't get the same kind of attention." I hadn't looked at it that way before, so this blew me away. It was also a perfect transition into talking about what it IS to be human, and how we cheat each other.

I asked how, as humans, we differ from whales. The told me: we don't always let our emotions show. I asked what we do when we keep information from people to try to protect them. We cheat them out of that feeling, that experience. Then, because they looked a little confused, I brought them back to the speech I had given last class. I can't remember exactly what I said, and what they said, but the gist is ...

If we - humans - let ourselves FEEL things. If we didn't bottle it up, or try to mask it, or ignore it. If, instead, we just felt it and talked about the world would be better. We could learn from each other, and even though that wouldn't stop us from hurting, we wouldn't be alone. I feel like so many of the problems in the world could be solved if we talked openly and honestly with each other. There wouldn't need to be lying or cheating - just truth. Does that hurt sometimes? Hell yes, but in the long run we would be so much better off as a species. We can learn just as much from the Jeffry Dahmer's of the world as we can the Mother Teresa's. If we took the time to understand one another things could BE better.

I swear I could keep going there, but I'll spare you.

As if that weren't enough to occupy us until 1:47, we had a WHOLE OTHER CHAPTER to discuss. Here are some of the conclusions drawn by my students today:

1. Kristen Sweetwater is a complete foil to Carly Hudson
2. Mike Barbour and Rich Marshall (and people like them) are products of their environments - a circle of abuse.
3. Andy Mott gives information (like how he lost his leg) on a need-to-know basis for two reasons:
a. To keep people's attention so they need him around
b. He understands that people need time to process all the terrible things that have happened to him.
4. We love TJ's parents.

And that, dear reader, was my fabulous day of class with the Freshman Honors group :-)

What is Whale Talk?

I'm sure I'll expand on this tomorrow after my honors class, but for now, you need to know this is my favorite passage of literature. Probably ever. I get chills each and every time I read it. And, each and every time I finish it, I have tears in my eyes. It's that good.

Just to set you up ... TJ's dad, John, had a horrible thing happen to him - well, because of him. It's something that this man struggles with daily; something that he constantly tries to make up for. Just before this conversation, TJ found his Dad at home, in a bedroom, crying.

"... 'I realized I had reached adulthood without even knowing what it is to be human. Nobody ever told me how dangerous it is, how risky. I started wishing I were a whale. At least they know what it is to be a whale. I mean, think of it. I walk outside and scream at the top of my lungs, and it travels maybe two blocks. A whale unleashes a cry and it travels hundreds or even thousands of miles. Every whale in the ocean will at one time or another run into that song. And I figure whales probably don't edit. It they think it, they say it. If some man-whale cheats on his wife, her anguish, her rage, her despair, is heard and understood by every whale who swims into the range of her voice. The joy of lovemaking, the crippling heartache of a lost child - it's all heard and understood. Predators and prey have equal voice. The Mother Teresa whales and the Jeffry Dahmer whales all have their say. Whale talk is the truth, and in a very short period of time, if you're a whale, you know exactly what is to be you.'

I watch a spider crawl across the ceiling toward the light.

'All that is exactly opposite of what it is to be human. My parents were wonderful people, I suppose, but they didn't want me to know the real skinny on sex or love or boredom or hate or disappointment. They sold me their wishes as if they were fact. After you saw me in the bedroom, I was embarrassed. I feel so weak when I get like that. But, the truth is, that's just the way it is with me some of the time, and you might as well know it.'

I tell him what I haven't said. 'I guess I was afraid you were suicidal.'

'Suicidal or not, I'm not going to kill myself,' he said with a smile. 'If I were going to do that, I'd have done it a long time ago. What you need to know about your old man is that I always bounce back.'

I went to my room and tried to get some sleep, but I couldn't help running Dad's and my conversation over in my head. If we all spoke in whale talk, and I heard the voice of Chris Coughlin and Andy Mott and Simon Delong, how would I put them in the same ocean with the shit that comes out of Rich Marshall and Mike Barbour?'"

Whale Talk - Day 6

Get ready. This could be long. In an effort to keep myself on track, I shall categorize today's post on class. Here we go.

1. Discussion Time
The kids have now read 10 of the 15 chapters in this book. They get it (mostly), they're reading it (mostly), and they seem to like it (mostly). Instead of sitting as a whole class and discussing today, I had the kids work in small groups. This was purposeful. I can tell, when we talk as a class, that they want me to GIVE them an answer. I keep having to drill into their heads that with literature, there is not RIGHT answer as long as you can back up your ideas with the text. The other reason I wanted to do it as small groups was because there were a lot of things to talk about, and not enough time.

The groups did pretty well. There were 4 of them, and they answered 1 question each. After about 20 minutes, we came back as a large group and the smaller groups reported out. The kids had a chance to add their two cents and I got to add my quarter. I was really impressed with SOME of the answers. They seem to be really "getting" the characters in this book, and I'm not surprised. One of the marvelous things about WT is that each character, though exaggerated in some ways, is believable. The kids can all find someone to whom they relate, which keeps them engaged in the book. It also makes them feel invested, at least that's my hope.



2. Bearing it All - for the discussion
I realize that the previous paragraphs covered the class discussion, however, something significant came up.

During these chapters Andy Mott becomes a pretty significant presence. He's one of the most intense characters I've ever read, and I love him. One of the things that came up during the discussion, from the kids, is that Andy's role on the team is as the challenger. He challenges the rest of the characters to BE better, to see things differently, and to be careful what assumptions they make. He does this during "cocoon like" bus rides to and from swim meets. These bus rides are when the team bonds - and that term doesn't truly capture the connection that these 7 boys and 2 coaches make.

One of the discussion questions asked the kids whether this kind of sharing (of REALLY personal stuff) is believable among virtual strangers. Among the points raised by the students were:
1. They aren't really strangers because they've been practicing and traveling for months
2. People aren't usually willing to share such horrific things about themselves

At this point, because it was the final question, we were short on time. I needed the kids to leave understanding that there are people who would believably share that much of themselves. I spent the next five minutes recounting my personal belief about humans. The more extensive version can be found here (it's my learning autobiography for the Maine Writing Project). What I shared with kids was this:

I really believe that as humans we are here for each other. That when we go through things we need to share. It's easy for us to share the good things - the successes - because those make us proud. I believe that it's just as important to share the hardships. I'm open. Ask me a question, and I'll give you an answer because I don't feel like I have anything to hide. My Mom dying - I feel like I have a responsibility to share that story. I don't share it because I want to be depressing - it's the opposite. I want people to see that I made it through to the other side. If we don't share the hardships, how can we share the lessons we've learned? I wouldn't want to go through losing my mother again, but I do thing that that I am a better person for having survived that. Other people need to know so that they, too, can survive.

I am so passionate about that sentiment. I sometimes forget HOW passionate I am until I look out to 15 freshman faces, all wide-eyed and not one of them makes a sound. I could see the wheels turning in their heads, and I thought to myself, "This is it. This is what I'm supposed to me doing." And having read this post just before class, I was glad that I GET to teach these students.


3. I Love Grading WT Journals (this is it, I promise)

I love coming home from work and WANTING to read the things my students write. It's fabulous. In my last WT post, I mentioned that I had started getting mixed reviews. I still did. However, before they left class today I explained that they don't have to like every book. It's OK not to enjoy something, but you have to give it a chance. The thing that is funny about this class and this book is that most the "negative" journals begin and/or end like this:

I don't know Ms. Davis. I think this book is kind of boring. Why is it your favorite? I don't get it. BUT, I do really love reading about the characters' stories.

I actually explained to the class that this book is unique. It isn't driven by plot events; it's driven by the characters. I tried to show them (in the 3 minutes of class we had left) that if they like the stories of the characters, they do kind of like the book. That if they have an emotional response to a novel, the author has done his job. And, whoa nelly, has he in this book.

So, anyway. I got home tonight, walked the dog, fixed dinner, and sat down to treat myself (dead serious here, not sarcastic at all) to a dose of WT journals. Here are some of my favorite quotes - directly from OTHS Honors English Freshman (with commentary from yours truly):

"Carly is my favorite character hands down. She's independent, and wants to be independent. She doesn't want to count on other people, and that's the kind of person I want to be eventually." Whoa.

"The fact that I'm a hundred pages in and I don't know how the story is going to turn out makes a good book!" Oh, you have NO idea!

"Is it possible the point of this book is to show change? That these people can overcome all of these problems? The these letter jackets will change the school's opinion? Their prejudices?" I swear, he's in 9th grade.

"This book does a good job at breaking stereotypes." I concur! And it's believable breaking, at that!

"I don't want to admit it, but I am starting to really like this book." Mwuahahaha - sucked another one in!

And my favorite part of any journal to date, because it says what I could not seem to articulate ...

"I love how it is based on one simple thing, but it covers so much really deep information. From bullying to racism to obesity. You name it!"

Whale Talk - Day 5

Despite the fact that there is laundry fold, a dog to bathe, and grading to do, I'm sitting here writing a post on Whale Talk progress. There isn't a ton to report, but I started this, and I plan on finishing it.

One of my great regrets with this unit - which is only half way over at this point - is that I haven't given myself enough time. With all of the standard grade 9 curriculum elements, the previous teachers assigned a novel as outside reading. They chose The Count of Monte Cristo. While I'm certain this book is probably good, it's not WT. WT needs to be taught explicitly, and there isn't enough time to do everything I want to. I've had to make sacrifices, but it's still going well.

On Friday, we started out with a reading check quiz. 5 questions to make sure they read their 60 pages for the week. They did. All of them. 15 out of 15 read. Not bad for a novel - especially when the honors sophomores in my homeroom tell me they blow off entire novels; well, A Tale of Two Cities. But, I digress. All the kids did well on their reading check. On the back, they had to respond to this:
Please write a few paragraphs explaining your reactions to the novel so far. What do you like? Dislike? Are there things confusing you?

I got more mixed reviews than in previous days, but no one hates it. The kids who said they didn't like it also said they were confused. Crutcher uses flashback a lot to elaborate on characters' lives when the information is necessary. We talked about that in class. One student asked why he didn't just give us all the info in the exposition (I was excited she remembered that term). Well, B, it's a need-to-know thing. If we got all the info at the start, there would be nothing driving the plot. Each character has secrets and unexpected elements to their life. If we knew that from the beginning, it wouldn't be as effective when things all come together - and, oh boy, do they.

Anyhoo ... kids that love it. I took pictures. Here's what a few said:






These were most definitely some of the BEST chapters. We spent almost an hour engaged in conversation. They asked questions, I answered. They discussed characters and events. It was just so great to sit in class and talk about LITERATURE. This, after all, is why I became and English teacher.